"And you're sure they're around here?"
"Of course I am. Why would our informant possibly lie to us?"
"Remember the last time we had an informant? She betrayed us and our entire scheme to that damned Sylph lord!"
"Well, that won't be happening this time. Now shut up and keep looking for them."
The party of five different Salamander players moved through the forest, still searching for whoever they had been told to eliminate. It hadn't been an easy ride for them lately, especially after their previous plan to overthrow the leadership of the Sylph and take control after the Rebirth System had been implemented failed miserably.
However, during the change in leadership at RECT Progress following Nobuyuki Sugou's arrest and the destruction of Sword Art Online, the Rebirth System update, which had been Sugou's doing, had been scrapped and the world of Alfheim Online had been taken in a very different direction.
The leader of the Salamander party stopped in his tracks when he noticed something just up ahead.
It looked like five players covered in tan hoods standing in the middle of a clearing, like they were having a secret meeting of sorts.
"That them, boss?"
"Looks like it. They probably think they're completely defended by those hoods. Well, we'll show 'em who's who around these parts."
The Salamander leader drew his katana and approached the five players slowly and stealthily, until he got close enough to who he assumed was their leader, then deciding to forgo stealth and lunging forward to attack, screaming a bellowing battle cry.
His sword surrounded by fire energy, he swung downwards, hard enough to cleave his target completely in half...
...only for his blade to phase right through the player's body and not do anything.
"W-what the hell?!"
"How did they do that?!"
"Damn it all, it was a Spriggan illusion," the Salamander leader laughed. "There's someone out here creating them, so spread out and find him!"
"Who do you think is trying to trick us?"
"It's probably that boy," the Salamander leader growled, clearly still bearing some personal scars from the last time they'd attempted a coup of the Sylph. "You remember Leafa, I assume?"
"Wait, you mean that Sylph girl who works directly for the Sylph Lord now?"
"Apparently, she's got a brother," the Salamander leader proclaimed. "We didn't see him here because he was trapped in Sword Art Online. Now he's playing ALO, and he's a Spriggan, too. I wouldn't be surprised if Leafa told him about us and what we did."
The Salamander leader stopped his ranting when he heard some rustling in the nearby bushes, no doubt the quarry they were trying to mutilate.
"All right, boy, we know you're hiding there!" the Salamander leader shouted, aiming his katana towards the bushes in question. "Come on out so we can murder you a few times! After all, you can't actually get killed by the game anymore, right?"
No response for a couple seconds, which definitely annoyed the leader.
"I said get your ass out here, Spriggan boy!" the Salamander leader snarled.
"Nope, no boys here."
The Salamander leader stopped at the sound of what was clearly a woman's voice, only to notice something dashing around the area, swiftly cutting down all of his subordinates with various Sword Skills. And she was fast, zipping around life a caffeinated lightning bolt while hacking away at the players until they all exploded into showers of glowing polygons, the only thing left being their Remain Lights.
The Salamander leader kept turning around, trying to get a bead on this new attacker, until he felt two slashes across his back that sent him to the ground. This finally allowed him to get a good look at her.
She was a Spriggan, as he had thought, with long brown hair tied into a ponytail by a large white bow, her face framed by bangs and two long strands of hair, emerald-green eyes, and was carrying two bright green swords.
"Just lil' ol' me."
She didn't even give the Salamander leader a chance to gasp in shock as she rushed him with her blades. One cross-slash across the chest later, it was all over.
After waiting for his Remain Light to dissipate along with the others, she sighed as she sheathed both of her swords. Seriously, these guys were major idiots, constantly blabbing about how they planned to overthrow the Sylph Lord.
After all, how had their last attempt at that gone?
A quick double beep told her that someone had sent her a message. After swiping her left hand to open her game menu and navigate to her inbox, she chuckled at the name of her employer, the Sylph Lord Sakuya herself.
Just checking in, Katelyn. How goes the mission?
After looking around to make sure no one else was waiting to ambush her, Katelyn typed out her reply.
I got 'em all. They were waiting in the forest clearing in Sylph territory just like you said. They apparently thought I was someone else, though. I'm on my way back now.
After sending the message, Katelyn unfurled her wings and took off into the skies.
As she flew back, though, she began wondering who exactly those Salamanders had confused her for.
She wasn't that much of a tomboy, was she?
However, Katelyn had no idea that this simple case of mistaken identity would lead to something much greater...
(To live a life of power, you must have faith that what you believe is right, even if others tell you you're wrong. The first thing you must do to live a life of power is to find courage. You must be ready to reach beyond the boundaries of time itself. And to do that, all you need is the will to take that first step.)
The Blue Time Ranger is proud to present...
Sword Art Online: Twin Wings
Story Created: October 18th, 2021
Story Rated: T for Teen
And Now, the Dramatis Personnae (the cast, if you will)
Kosuke Toriumi and Troy Baker as Nick Kelly
Ayana Taketatsu and Cassandra Lee Morris as Leafa / Melissa Kelly
Aoi Yuuki and Erica Mendez as Yuuki / Yuuki Konno
Megumi Han and Caitlin Glass as Ran / Aiko Konno
Haruka Tomatsu and Cherami Leigh-Kuhn as Asuna / Asuna Yuuki
Kanae Itou and Stephanie Sheh as Yui
Sachika Misawa and Kira Buckland as Strea
Rina Satou and Jillian Ashcraft as Katelyn
Rie Kugimiya and Rebecca Forstadt as Hanmyo / Shoko
Story Summary: The adventure only ends when another begins. It's been three months since the death game, Sword Art Online, was cleared. Nick Kelly and his girlfriend Yuuki Konno are now playing Alfheim Online, a world of fairies and mythology abound. Nick and Yuuki are just happy to finally be with their friends from SAO after what feels like forever apart, and go on adventures to see what this land based on Norse myths has in store for them. However, the past refuses to stay buried, as Nick, Yuuki, and their friends in the Sleeping Knights begin to encounter strange events in ALO, including hints that the last remaining member of Laughing Coffin may still be at large, and may be coming to finish the job he started in SAO. Can the Sleeping Knights put this demon of the past to rest before it puts them to rest?
Author's Note: It's sequel time! Yeah, I said I'd wait until 2022 to start this next chapter in my new timeline, but I just couldn't help myself, because an idea flash hit me, and I HAD to pounce on it before it could flee. This continues on from the AU that started back in my previous SAO story, Sword Art Online: Twin Memory, where Yuuki and Aiko don't have AIDS, their family is still alive, and all that.
Theme Song Notes: Since I can't post the opening and ending sequences anymore so I won't get my stuff axed, the opening theme is "Star Marker" by KANA-BOON (the second opening theme to My Hero Academia season four) and the ending theme is "Furare Kibun de Rock'n'Roll" by DROPS (the ending theme to Sensei no Ojikan, a.k.a. Doki Doki School Hours).
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: I, The Blue Time Ranger, do not own anything related to Sword Art Online or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Reki Kawahara, A-1 Pictures, and Aniplex USA. Anything I do not own, I am just borrowing for the story with every intent of returning them when I'm done. The only things I DO own are any characters and places created by yours truly for the story. And, I do not intend to infringe on any copyrights, only to entertain my readers. Besides, if I did own Sword Art Online, which I don't, why would I be writing fiction on a fan site?
Episode 1: Spread Your Wings
July 23rd, 2025
7:10 A.M. U.S. Central Time
Mistralton, South Carolina
What was that she was hearing?
In her current state, she couldn't really make out anything of significance.
Was someone... calling out to her?
She could hear a faint utterance of her name from somewhere in this desolate void. It echoed onwards and outwards, repeating multiple times.
Who... was that?
"YUUKI, WAKE UP ALREADY!"
That caused Yuuki Konno to leap up in her bed before quickly falling out of it thanks to the shout of her name, one that came from her older-by-just-a-few-minutes twin sister Aiko.
"Aw, Aiko, I was having a really good dream," Yuuki groaned as she picked herself up. "Why'd you have to kill it?"
Aiko just pointed at the alarm clock on Yuuki's nightstand, which read 7:10 A.M., and this was enough to jolt Yuuki back into full awareness as she started scrambling around her room.
"Nice to know that much hasn't changed since we were kids," Aiko giggled as she walked out of the room to let Yuuki do her thing.
Fifteen minutes later, Yuuki was showered, fully dressed, and racing down the stairway of the Konno family's new home here in Mistralton, South Carolina.
The Konno family used to live in Japan, though their mother and father tended to travel a lot for their job, as they worked for a popular technology company that had spots all over the world.
Just a few months ago, the Konno family had decided to move here to Mistralton, especially after their daughters' insistence.
And the reason for the insistence was knocking on their front door this very moment.
"I'm comin'!" Yuuki exclaimed as she bolted down the stairs with Aiko hot on her trail, running to the door and opening it to be greeted with the smiling face of her boyfriend Nick Kelly. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long, Nick. I literally slept in today..."
"Hey, it's all right, I just got here myself," Nick answered. "Yui was pretty adamant that I got up at a very specific time today."
"To be fair, Nick, your sleep patterns have been kinda whacked since we got out of SAO," Aiko giggled.
"And let me just say that Strea's a very effective alarm clock," Nick sighed, to which Yuuki and Aiko couldn't help but laugh.
"Sorry, Nick, but I couldn't resist!" Strea laughed, her voice coming from Nick's phone. "It's too fun to mess with you sometimes."
Nick walked up to Yuuki and kissed her on the cheek, to which Yuuki couldn't help but blush like a love-struck schoolgirl, even if it was technically true.
"And on that note, we'd better get going before we're late for class because you two couldn't stop smooching," Aiko teased. "It's happened before, remember?"
That was enough for Nick and Yuuki to get into gear and start running down the nearby sidewalk towards their school, with Aiko following them and laughing all the while.
So, it's been a while, hasn't it? I know some people wouldn't consider three months "a while", but hey, after spending TWO AND A HALF YEARS trapped inside a virtual world, anything would seem like it lasts way too long.
About twenty minutes later, Nick, Yuuki and Aiko made it to the front gates of Crosstown High School, the school they'd all been going to ever since being discharged from their local hospital after the SAO Incident had been resolved.
A lot of schools around the country have all added a new curriculum recently. Collectively, it's known as the Sword Art Online Survivor's Academy, where anyone who made it through SAO can take virtual online lessons with licensed therapists, because... let's face it, not every one of the survivors was so lucky to make it through that death trap of a game with minimal mental scars.
"So, what do you think Miss Hasselbeck's gonna be teaching today?" Aiko wondered.
"I'm just hoping it's anything but what she started monkey-ing with last week," Nick sighed. "She's a good teacher, but I seriously don't think chemistry is her thing."
"I think she's played too much of those Atelier games, honestly," Yuuki giggled. "So... are we all still on for checking out that cavern after school today?"
"Oh, you know we're all over that," Nick proclaimed. "Has anyone found out why it's making all those weird noises?"
"All I can think of is that there must be a powerful monster in there," Aiko quipped. "Both of the players who recklessly charged in there to take whatever noise boy was guarding got wiped out pretty swiftly."
"Hopefully it's actually something worth all of that trouble," Nick chuckled. "I remember that one dungeon we checked out, and all those swarms of goblins and gremlins were guarding something an accessory that was weaker than the one I already had on!"
"Blame randomly-generated treasure chests," Yuuki laughed.
Nick, Yuuki, and Aiko all waved to each other as they split off to head to their respective classes.
I'm sure you're wondering what we're all talking about... well, we're playing a new VRMMO game. Alfheim Online, specifically.
And in case you're worried about the whole "you die in the game, you die in real life" thing, that's no longer a problem. RECT Progress specifically developed the Amusphere in a way that it would be unable to emit enough microwaves to kill a person. It's nice to know that most of the company learned from what happened with SAO.
During the school lunch break, Nick, Yuuki and Aiko all sat down at the same table (as they had ever since returning to school) to eat their lunch together, and on a nearby television set, they noticed a report that showed off the mugshot of one Nobuyuki Sugou, the former head of RECT's FullDive division.
"Hey, they finally threw the book at his bony keester," Yuuki proclaimed.
"Took 'em long enough, really," Aiko stated.
Nick just stared hatefully at the picture of the man who had inadvertently caused them and the Sleeping Knights a lot of grief in the final few months of SAO.
Yeah, this asshole was up to some real skeevy crap back in SAO, intending to use the captives of the game as fodder for his plans to use VR to control the human soul. Problem is, he made the MAJOR mistake of messing with me and my friends, and that eventually led to his undoing. The police have spent the past few months rounding up every last bit of information on his research, and the former head of RECT Progress resigned out of guilt for letting a scumbag like Sugou on their staff.
"I really wish I could have shanked him, too," Strea quipped. "He caused you guys so much grief, after all."
"Hey, we were more worried about you, Strea," Nick answered. "But you don't have to fret over his dumb face. He's gonna be put away for a long time, especially considering everything they've found."
"Foo on him!" Strea proclaimed, causing both Yuuki and Aiko to giggle.
Nick looked around the cafeteria, happy to know that the mad crowds had settled down. As Nick had feared, many of the other students of this school had treated him like a celebrity for most of May and a bit of June, considering that, in the end, it had been him to strike the killing blow against Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of both the NerveGear and Sword Art Online.
Oh, right, Kayaba. It turns out that, just after Sword Art Online was cleared and its servers collapsed, Kayaba was actually found dead in his cabin, having performed a super-powerful brain scan with a remodeled FullDive machine. Sadly, this burned out all of his brain cells and killed him.
More than once, even some girls had approached him to ask him out on a date, some of them conveniently forgetting that he had a girlfriend. Aiko often found it amusing when Yuuki gave those girls a steel glare that quickly sent them running for the hills.
"Nick?" Yuuki asked.
"What's up, Yuuki?" Nick wondered.
Yuuki simply leaned over and kissed Nick in response. "I love you, Nick."
Nick couldn't help but smile at those four simple words. Even though he heard them multiple times every single day, given that he and Yuuki were dating, it still warmed his heart to hear her say them.
"I love you, too, Yuuki," Nick responded.
"I still remember that month before we found each other IRL again," Yuuki stated. "It was hard, not knowing if you were anywhere close to where we woke up..."
"Yuuki was really distraught over the possibility that we wouldn't be able to see each other again," Aiko admitted. "I still remember how Yuuki's face just lit up like a kid on Christmas morning when Kikuoka-san contacted us and asked if we wanted to be transferred to your own hospital for the rest of our treatment. He called it 'owing us a favor for clearing SAO'."
"Yeah, he owed me a favor, too," Nick quipped. "How else do you think I got Yui and Strea onto my Amusphere? I'm not that tech-savvy, after all."
"Hey, come on, you two, let's finish our lunch before the period's up," Aiko proclaimed. "After all, I don't think Nick's keen to suffer through math class again without a 'full tank', as it were."
"Ugh, don't remind me!" Nick exclaimed. "Even two and a half years after SAO, math is still the bane of my existence..."
Yuuki leaped over to hug Nick and give him a kiss on the cheek. "There. For good luck," Yuuki giggled.
Thankfully, the rest of the school day passed by with no more troubles, and Nick, Yuuki and Aiko were quick to make their way back home so they could log on to ALO.
"Right on time, Nick," Melissa, Nick's younger sister, laughed once Nick had returned to the house. "Yuuki just sent me a text wondering where we are."
"Still impatient after all this time, huh?" Nick chuckled as he and Melissa headed up to their rooms to prepare. "Well, let's not keep her waiting."
"See you on the other side, big bro," Melissa stated as she ducked into her room, Nick doing the same.
In a procedure that was all too familiar to him by this point, Nick laid down on his bed, placed his Amusphere over his head, closed his eyes, and uttered those familiar words.
"LINK START!"
And here's the big question I'm sure you're all gonna ask me: after two and a half years of being trapped in what most people believe was a virtual hell... why am I still playing VR games?
Simple. Like I said last time, the memories I made in SAO are irreplaceable to me. I made quite a few friends there, and of course, I met the love of my life. And, in my opinion, SAO was still a fantastic game, despite the very real threat of death that we all faced.
Believe it or not, quite a large number of the 5,462 surviving players of Sword Art Online are actually playing ALO now, as despite being trapped in a virtual world for two and a half years, many of the players still wished to play VR games, vowing not to let their previous virtual prison control them. In fact, many doctors around the world had actually recommended it as a form of therapy. Who knew, huh?
When Nick's vision finally cleared up (he was never going to get used to that tunnel of rainbow light beams, honestly), he found himself once again in the capital city of the Spriggan race, one of the nine different fairy races that players could become here in Alfheim Online.
Two small balls of light began flying around Nick the instant he was aware, and he tapped both of them. One flash of light later, both Yui and Strea had appeared in front of him.
"NICK NEEDS A HUG!" Strea shouted as she leaped to hug Nick as she did every time.
"You'd think I'd be used to that by now..." Nick sighed.
"Ah, it's fun to catch you off guard!" Strea giggled.
"So, what are we going to be doing today, papa?" Yui asked.
"Apparently, there's a strange cave that a lot of players around here have tried to enter, but they kept getting wiped by whatever's in that place," Nick quipped. "So, we're all gonna try our hand at it."
"Oh, just let me at whatever's in that cave!" Strea proclaimed. "I'll bonk it good!"
Nick couldn't help but chuckle as Yui and Strea assumed their Navigation Pixie forms so they could swiftly follow Nick to his destination.
Yeah, my "daughter" and my kinda-sorta-possibly-maybe-other girlfriend? here can turn INTO Navigation Pixies. I wonder if it's because of what they were classified as in SAO, but Yui told me when I first logged onto ALO that she, and possibly other AI programs like her, were classified as Navigation Pixies here in ALO, and apparently they can change form whenever. Oh, trust me, there was a LOT to adjust to being in a different game.
"Hey, there you are!" Melissa exclaimed, now in the body of her ALO avatar Leafa, as Nick, Yui, and Strea finally arrived. "We might have a bit of a pickle going on here."
"What happened?" Strea wondered as she reverted to her human form.
"Apparently, two more players went in there when we reached this place," Yuuki quipped. "That doesn't bode too well, especially considering how many players have been taken out by whatever's waiting in there."
"And I'm pretty sure that's our cue to get our butts in there," Nick proclaimed. "Let's just hope we're not too late to help these two."
With that, after double-checking their setups, the group all made their way into the cave, occasionally stopping to cut down enemies that were in their way.
One thing that ALO hadn't had in its initial incarnation were Sword Skills, the only real forms of combat in its infancy being regular weapon swings and magic spells. That was one thing Nick definitely had to get used to, since SAO hadn't had magic of any kind. Sword Skills and the Original Sword Skill system had been added to ALO in an update patch not too long after SAO had been cleared.
After thankfully only a few minutes of traveling, the group reached the room in the cavern that was apparently the lair of whatever monster had been giving players so much crap.
And Yuuki could hear the sounds of battle from within the cavern.
"Sounds like they've already engaged the boss," Aiko quipped.
"What do you think, Nick? Should we engage, too?" Yuuki wondered.
"If this boss is as tough as everyone's saying it is, then those two players might need our help," Nick proclaimed, drawing his sword. "Are you guys all ready?"
"Oh, you know it," Leafa laughed.
Yuuki took point and led the group into the boss arena, where she gasped in surprise upon laying eyes on the boss in question.
It was a large, fiery-red dragon with scorched wings, named Igneel the Scorch King according to its info window. Thankfully, Igneel hadn't noticed them, absorbed as it was in attacking two other players.
The first player was a Spriggan girl with long brown hair tied into a ponytail by a large white bow, her face framed by bangs and two long strands of hair, emerald-green eyes, and she was attacking the boss with two bright green swords.
The second player was a Cait Sith girl with shoulder-length purple hair, pale skin, and was wearing a pink cloth wrapped around her forehead, a dark pink sash around her waist, and long, white sleeves with pink cuffs. She was currently striking the boss' right flank with a razor-sharp dagger while two small lion-like familiars were supporting her.
"Okay, not exactly what I was expecting," Nick stated matter-of-factly.
This caught the two players' attention as they jumped away from a spinning tail attack from Igneel.
"Looks like we've got some company," the Spriggan, Katelyn, proclaimed.
"Could you two use some assistance?" Yuuki asked.
"Thought crossed our minds," the Cait Sith, Hanmyo, replied. "Then we got sucked into the lair and we had to fight a dragon."
"Sounds like fun," Strea giggled before adopting a serious face and drawing her two-handed sword. "But back to business, let's all mop the floor with mister dragon boy! Sleeping Knights, CHAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!"
That was all the Sleeping Knights needed to hear to rush into battle with Igneel, and the fight quickly turned into madness with each player attacking Igneel in their own way. Yui, who had no real combat ability to speak of (she had discovered she could fight in this game, but decided, for now, to handle support) stayed at the edge of the room where she deemed the safest.
Yuuki drew both of her own swords (she was so happy that dual-wielding was a thing in ALO) and went to town, hacking away at Igneel's vulnerable left side until it spun around to take a bite out of her. Yuuki jumped back, re-sheathed her swords, and held her hands out towards Igneel while chanting a set of magic words. Rows of violet magical runes surrounded her while she chanted her magic words, eventually absorbing into Yuuki's body to signal to her that her spell was ready.
"Chew on this, dragon boy!" Yuuki shouted, opening her palms wide and casting her spell, Ethereal Blades, which unleashed a barrage of dark purple crescent-shaped energy blades to hammer at Igneel's flank, doing quite a bit of damage due to Igneel being weak to darkness magic. This allowed Katelyn to charge in and start slicing Igneel's other flank with her own swords.
Hanmyo took a more defensive stance while her lion familiars, Kemi and Mata, performed status moves, Kemi roaring loudly to induce Stun in Igneel, and Mata casting an offensive buff on Hanmyo.
This allowed Nick and Aiko to start attacking the boss with fervor as well, while Strea decided to be a little more daring and swung her sword at Igneel's face, getting in a few good hits while it was distracted by everyone else that was hacking away at it.
Another thing that Nick had been kind of forced to get used to was that most boss enemies here in ALO tended to hit a lot harder than any boss in SAO had. He figured it was for two reasons, one being that there was no longer any chance of "you die in the game, you die for real" that had permeated SAO, and the other being that many of ALO's current players were SAO survivors and were veterans at this kind of gameplay style.
Also, it definitely helped that there were actual, honest-to-god healing spells in ALO that weren't sealed off by simply being in a boss room.
With the combined efforts of all seven players working together, Igneel was defeated after a fierce battle. The fiery dragon attempted one last bite before collapsing onto its stomach, the fire on its wings extinguishing itself before the boss exploded into a shower of glowing polygons.
Status windows opened up in front of everyone, displaying the amount of currency they'd gained from defeating the boss, and how much they'd progressed in leveling up their skills.
Oh, yeah, that's another major difference from SAO. Here in ALO, there isn't a traditional level-up system. Each player can develop different kinds of skills and "levels them up" by simply using them repeatedly. It was RECT Progress' way of trying to shorten the gap between new and old players when it came to level-based RPGs. What was it that Aiko said back in SAO? Oh, right. "If your numbers are high enough, you're practically invincible. After all, MMOs that use level systems are unfair like that."
"WOW, what a rush!" Strea laughed as she dramatically spun her sword before sheathing it.
"Good to see you haven't changed all that much, Strea," Yuuki giggled. "Now, on to the elephant in this boss room..."
"Ehehehe, guess you kinda caught us in a bad spot, huh?" Katelyn quipped. "Honestly, we were just curious about what was so special about this cave."
"We'd heard the rumors of players heading into this cave to find out what was inside, only to find them wiped not too long after," Hanmyo replied. "I didn't think the 'problem' was gonna be a giant dragon boss, but hey, what can you do?"
"Now that we're all in a calm spot, how about we do some introductions?" Katelyn proclaimed as she sheathed her swords. "My name's Katelyn, but you can call me Katie if you want. And this is my partner Hanmyo."
"Nice to meet you all," Hanmyo responded. "And you must be the legendary Zekken."
"Wow, am I that popular?" Yuuki giggled.
"Practically everyone who plays VR games knows about your exploits in Sword Art Online," Hanmyo admitted. "The fabulous leader of the Sleeping Knights, the players who ended up defeating Akihiko Kayaba and freeing the remaining players of SAO."
"You should have seen the students at our school," Nick laughed. "The three of us were practically superstars for the first couple months, particularly Aiko and I, since we were the ones who actually shoved our swords up Kayaba's proverbial tailpipe."
"Anyways, I was actually here on a mission from Sakuya, the Sylph Lord," Katelyn proclaimed.
"Hey, Katie, maybe they don't need to know that?" Hanmyo chastised.
"It's fine, Hanmyo, really," Katelyn replied, gesturing to Leafa. "After all, one of Sakuya's right hands is standing right there, after all."
"W-wait, you guys actually know the Sylph Lord's assistant?!" Hanmyo gasped.
"Most likely because she's my sister IRL," Nick answered.
"...huh. That explains a lot," Hanmyo quipped, then looking over at Strea and Yui. "Oh, by the way, how do you have two Navigation Pixies?"
Naturally, Yui was surprised to hear that. "How do you know that we're Navigation Pixies?" Yui asked.
"Well, a couple reasons," Katelyn responded. "One, I know that Navigation Pixies can change into a more human-like form, and two and most importantly, because... well... Notte, can you come out here for a second?"
A pink ball of light flew around Katelyn's head for a couple seconds before losing the glow to reveal a tiny fairy girl with shoulder-length split pink hair, aqua-blue eyes, and wearing a green dress shaped like a blooming flower, with two feathers in her hair.
"Hey howdy, everybody!" Notte laughed. "It's your girl Notte here!"
"Yeah, I've got a Navigation Pixie of my own, too," Katelyn quipped. "Notte's been my partner practically since I started playing ALO."
"Yeah, we're practically thick as thieves by this point!" Notte giggled. "But, on to the question I'm sure is actually more important by this point. You've got two Navigation Pixies, and I'm pretty sure the game only really allows one at a time, right?"
"It's kind of a complicated tale," Nick admitted. "To make a very long story short, Yui and Strea are actually AIs from Sword Art Online that I befriended, and one Seijirou Kikuoka transferred them from my old NerveGear to my current AmuSphere so they could stay with me, and AIs are supposed to take the form of Navigation Pixies in this world."
"Kikuoka said he owed the three of us a favor for taking Kayaba down," Aiko stated. "Yuu and I's favor was getting to see Nick in the hospital during our post-SAO recovery, since... well, you can probably already guess that Yuuki's hopelessly in love with Nick."
"A-Aiko! It's not hopeless!" Yuuki sputtered. Even now, two and a half years later, the Konno twins still loved teasing each other. "He's actually my boyfriend, for the love of potatoes!"
Nick simply walked over and kissed Yuuki on the cheek to get her to calm down.
"...sorry, Nick," Yuuki giggled. "Aiko still loves pushing my buttons at times."
"It's fun," Aiko laughed. "And you know I don't mean anything malicious by it. I mean, look at you. One of the three major players in clearing Sword Art Online is an absolutely cute girl with long (and natural, mind you) purple hair who looks like she couldn't hurt a fly."
"But you should have seen her during the raid on Laughing Coffin," Strea proclaimed, not noticing the slightly uneasy looks on Katelyn and Hanmyo's faces. "Holy crapbaskets, once she busted out her second sword, she was a hurricane of badassery and cuteness! Not a single one of those LC punks stood a chance!"
"Um... is everything okay, you two?" Yuuki asked when she noticed how uneasy Katelyn and Hanmyo looked.
"...well, now that you mention Laughing Coffin... that's actually the reason that Hanmyo and I are out on a mission for Sakuya," Katelyn replied. "You see... ooh, boy, how do I explain this?"
"For the past couple weeks now, some of Lady Sakuya's top bodyguards keep on getting PKed by some strangers in odd ways," Notte explained as she flew around Katelyn and Hanmyo, using exaggerated hand gestures to convey parts of the story. "We're not too worried about losing them, since game death doesn't mean death death anymore. What is the problem is the way they were killed."
"Our most recent victim was found with his legs chopped off and hung upside down in a tree near Sylph territory," Katelyn proclaimed. "The last thing he said before he died and got sent back to his respawn point was that he'd been attacked by a strange gang of players wearing black hoods much like the villains of a Kingdom Hearts game."
"One of the assailants also carved a very strange symbol into that same tree," Hanmyo stated, opening her game menu so she could show the Sleeping Knights the photo she'd taken.
And now the group was very worried, as the logo carved into the tree on the photo was a smiley face over an open casket.
The guild logo of Laughing Coffin.
"Hold on just a minute, how the hell are they still up and about?!" Yuuki gasped. "Didn't we annihilate those creep-a-tronics?!"
"And there's no way in hell that the ones that got sent to jail IRL would be allowed anywhere near a VR device after that," Aiko proclaimed.
Nick gasped in shock when he realized the key piece to this puzzle.
"Um, girls, do you remember their leader, right?" Nick stated. "PoH was never found after Sword Art Online was cleared, and we never saw his scrawny face after we raided their hideout."
"...you actually think he's trying to start a new Laughing Coffin?!" Leafa gasped. "He knows that he can't get his jollies from murdering people anymore, since ALO's not a death game like he wants."
"I have no idea how psychopaths like him work, and frankly, I'd rather not know," Nick quipped.
"Regardless, if PoH or his stinky little mooks try to get the drop on us, we'll cut 'em all to ribbons faster than you can say 'Starburst Stream'!" Strea proclaimed. "We've faced far worse than a murder-happy nutball!"
"Spoken like a true warrior, Strea," Hanmyo laughed. "Speaking of which, Katie, do you think we should head back to Swilvane so we can report to Lady Sakuya?"
"That's probably a good idea, especially considering we've got more allies on our side now," Katelyn responded.
However, as the group left the cave and proceeded to fly back to Swilvane, they were unaware of a figure covered completely by a black robe watching them from far away, along with more players covered by similar robes.
"Well, well, my little Sleeping Knights," PoH cackled from under his hood. "It seems like I was right. Laughing Coffin still haunts you, and we will not stop until we've taken our deliciously deserved revenge. I hope you're ready to take it."
PoH turned around and walked off into the night, his followers, well, following behind him.
July 23rd, 2025
8:47 P.M. U.S. Central Time
Mistralton, South Carolina
The Konno Household
Once again, Yuuki heard a knock on her front door once she and Aiko had finished reading their books together. Aiko had gotten Yuuki the newest RWBY novel, based on a web series that Yuuki had really been getting into since escaping SAO.
"I wonder who's here so late?" Yuuki asked. "I swear, if it's those stupid door-to-door salesmen again..."
"Hey, you've gotta admit it was pretty funny watching you chew that guy out for trying to sell us gutters that we don't even need," Aiko giggled as she and Yuuki walked downstairs to see who was at their doorstep.
"I guess I'm just lucky that mom's so skilled at dealing with these people," Yuuki replied as she grasped the door handle, ready to tell off whoever was trying to sell the Konno family more useless nonsense.
Thankfully, her planned telling-off was buried when she opened the door to reveal that Nick was standing there, his messenger bag stuffed with a lot of things. And Yuuki usually knew what that meant.
"Hey, Yuuki," Nick quipped. "Trust me, I'm not a salesman, I'm just your boyfriend, here for another sleepover."
"Really?" Yuuki gasped. "I honestly wasn't expecting that so soon after our last one!"
"Your parents must be really lenient about that kinda stuff, Nick," Aiko stated. "I mean, how many sleepovers have you had with us in the past month alone?"
"Mom and dad know how much you two mean to me, so they're all right with it," Nick answered. "Besides, you should have seen the look on dad's face when he found out I have a girlfriend."
"Ooh, I'd pay money to see that," Aiko laughed. "Well, let's head up to the usual spot, because there's something I've been meaning to show you since the last time you were over here."
With that, Aiko took Nick by the hand and started dragging him upstairs, leaving a very amused Yuuki to catch up.
12:48 A.M.
As Nick's eyes opened and adjusted to the waking world once again, he glanced over at Yuuki's sleeping self, glad to see that she was still there.
This hadn't been the first time a nightmare had plagued his subconscious in the dead of night, especially in the aftermath of Sword Art Online. But this one had been... strange, for lack of a better term.
He had no real reason to be scared of Laughing Coffin anymore, after all. The only reason they'd commanded such fear in SAO was because of the death game aspect. With their only real power stripped from them, they weren't a threat.
...so why did Nick still feel uneasy at the mere thought of Laughing Coffin trying to make a comeback?
"...hey, everything okay?" Yuuki asked when she realized that Nick was awake.
"Honestly, Yuuki, I'm not so sure," Nick admitted.
"Well, scooch over here and talk to me," Yuuki replied, patting the space beside her and beckoning Nick to come closer, which he did without hesitation. "Did you have another nightmare?"
"A different one this time," Nick answered. "And I don't know why it's bugging me the way it is..."
"Laughing Coffin?" Yuuki wondered, to which Nick just nodded. "After what we learned today, I wouldn't be surprised. It's probably just bad memories of the things they did in SAO."
"And that's my real beef with the dream I had," Nick responded. "Laughing Coffin doesn't have any real power now, so why am I fretting so hard over this?"
"Hey, we'll take 'em down, just like we did before," Yuuki giggled. "It's like you said, without the only actual power they had, they're nothing more than regular ol' players now."
"I guess you're right," Nick quipped. "Hey, Yuuki?"
"Yeah?"
To Yuuki's surprise, Nick leaped forward to playfully tackle Yuuki back onto the bed and hug her tightly.
"I love you, Yuuki," Nick stated. "You know that, right?"
"Of course I do, Nick," Yuuki giggled. "I love you, too, Nick. And I know what you're thinking. No one's ever going to separate us again. Not a game, not some pseudo-but-not-really murder guild, nothing. That's the promise we made, right?"
"Absolutely," Nick replied. "And I never break a promise."
Yuuki leaned up to kiss Nick just as he leaned down, their lips meeting halfway to seal that promise.
To be continued...
On the next episode...
Yuuki: Ooh, I'm so excited to be back on another awesome adventure!
Aiko: It doesn't really feel like it's been that long, honestly.
Katelyn: Well, I hope you guys are prepared for trouble, because I'm pretty sure more of LC's goon squad had been spotted around these parts.
Strea: Oh, good, I'm in the mood to stomp some of 'em.
Hanmyo: Wait, did that girl they're harassing literally just shoot mister hood in the face with an arrow from that far away?!
Yuuki: Girl's got skills. I'd probably suck with a bow.
Leafa: I tried one once. It didn't really work out.
Nick: It seems like we've got a new buddy joining us in the fight against Laughing Coffin next time on Sword Art Online: Twin Wings, "Fly True, Sniper's Arrow"!
Nick, Yuuki and Aiko: This may be a game, but it's not something you play!